The board that oversees the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks voted Wednesday to cancel its search for a company to handle its golf cart rental concession, ending a seven-year bidding process that was derided as both heavily politicized and painfully slow. The commissioners, appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, voted unanimously to allow the department's unionized workforce to rent out the carts at seven 18-hole courses. Parks officials have tried three times to go out to bid. After a company was finally recommended by the department in 2008, the City Council refused to sign the contract, saying instead that parks officials should stick with the incumbent concessionaire, J.H. Kishi Co. Commission President Barry Sanders said canceling Kishi's contract — and turning the work over to city employees — would give the department flexibility if it decides in coming years to bid out all of the city's golf course operations to a single company.

Squeezed by a continuing budget crisis, Los Angeles officials scaled back city services over the past year, reducing library hours, laying off child-care workers and taking steps to turn over several public parking garages to private companies. Yet there's one area where the city suddenly appears determined to branch out, even in a grim economy: golf carts. After trying for seven years to award a new contract for a golf cart concession at the city's seven 18-hole courses, officials with the Department of Recreation and Parks have decided they are capable of renting out the electric vehicles themselves.

For 85 years, Trojan Battery Co., now the top U.S. provider of batteries for electric golf carts, has had a quiet existence as a family-owned and operated company. But from the calm of manicured fairways, the Santa Fe Spings firm has been thrust into the international green movement. The company's specialty is deep-cycle batteries that dole out energy in a steady stream over relatively long periods of time — just what's needed for solar power systems in remote parts of the world.

Tax season usually leaves Americans grumbling, but you might have a few things to smile about this year, thanks to a bout of generosity from your dear old Uncle Sam. Desperate to kick-start the sputtering economy, Congress last year passed a stimulus bill that threw money at anyone willing to buy homes, cars, solar water heaters, energy-efficient air conditioners, refrigerators -- even golf carts. Why? Consumer spending is believed to account for about two-thirds of economic growth, so legislators were giving Americans reasons to spend.

Los Angeles golfers who have complained about deteriorating carts on the city's seven public courses may not see changes any time soon. After an intense lobbying effort, the City Council rejected the recommendation of the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners to award a 10-year contract for cart rentals to a new concessionaire, Sherman Oaks-based Ready Golf Centers. It was the city's third attempt in six years to choose a concessionaire through a competitive bidding process.

For those who fear that government always moves at a glacial pace, the city of Los Angeles may be poised to provide a new poster child: golf carts. The Department of Recreation and Parks has tried three times in six years to hire a company to rent out electric carts at the city's seven 18-hole golf courses. Yet even that relatively mundane service is a source of discontent for high-paid lobbyists, labor activists and political operatives. Search panels have been convened. Walk-throughs have been held at the Griffith Park "cart barn," where the current city vendor shelters vehicles.

The palm-fringed island of Samui normally fills up for the holidays, but what stands out these days is its emptiness. The sprawling Tongsai Bay resort, where guests are shuttled around in golf carts, has reduced hours for staffers and even installed lower-wattage light bulbs to reduce electricity bills to cut costs amid the slowdown, assistant manager Chonlatee Nakamadee said. "We can't believe how quiet it is here," said Karen Jack, a 37-year-old secretary from London. "There's been a couple of nights when we've been the only people in the restaurant."

IT'S "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," motorcycle style. Lightning Motors' lithium-powered superbike looks like an R1. It even handles like the Yamaha liter bike. But its innards have been wrenched and yanked out. The entire engine is missing. So are the tailpipes, radiator, gas cap, transmission and clutch. In their place: a wall of yellow batteries, an AC regenerative motor, an electric throttle and a three-pronged plug, which pokes out from the frame and connects to a standard outlet.

It's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," motorcycle style. Lightning Motors' lithium-powered superbike looks like an R1. It even handles like the Yamaha liter bike. But its innards have been wrenched and yanked out. The entire engine is missing. So are the tailpipes, radiator, gas cap, transmission and clutch. In their place: a wall of yellow batteries, an AC regenerative motor, an electric throttle and a three-pronged plug, which pokes out from the frame and connects to a standard outlet.

A 65-year-old golfer died Tuesday after his golf cart plunged 75 feet off a cliff and landed on a road below, authorities said. Edwin Payne teed off with three friends on the second hole of the course at Pala Mesa Golf Resort in northern San Diego County about 10 a.m. and then got into his cart. It veered off the concrete pathway, traveled down a 25-foot embankment and went over the cliff, California Highway Patrol spokesman Tom Kerns said.